Category Archives: Disaster Response

Many believe the sky is the limit for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology, including right here in northern Nevada, where drones are being tested. Warren Rapp is the Business Director of Nevada Advanced Autonomous Systems Innovative Center. He says using UAVs in search and rescue missions would be a huge step for law enforcement agencies. “It’s a [...]

A drone has been donated to the city of Birmingham for use in public safety emergencies like the massive snowstorms of January 2014. “We could have launched it from the back of a patrol SUV and flown the interstates in sections,” Birmingham 911 Director Greg Silas told Birmingham City Council members at a November committee meeting. “It [...]

Attacking out of control forest fires from the air with manned helicopters and planes is a technique that has been used for decades, but we are now starting to see what their unmanned cousins have to offer. In a recent demonstration, Lockheed Martin has shown how the unmanned K-MAX helicopter can combine with a quadcopter [...]

SALT LAKE CITY – Drones can fly high in the air and utilize infrared cameras in order to map a half-square mile in a matter of seconds, and that technology could be employed by search and rescue crews working to save lives. FOX 13 News’ Matt McDonald recently took a look at the possibility of [...]

After a lot of negative buzz for interfering with wildfire operations, drones might soon have a place in another type of emergency response: search and rescue. “In the emergency world, the interest in drones is swelling right now,” said Joe Dougherty, spokesman for the Utah Division of Emergency Management. While Dougherty attended an annual, statewide [...]

Drones have been getting a bum rap in recent years, but this could soon change: Rwanda has been chosen as a test site for a revolutionary aid delivery system for remote areas. One British architect believes cargo drones could change the aid landscape forever. This could be the change aid agencies (and drone apologists) are [...]

The University of Colorado will lead a $1.9 million federal grant to develop autonomous aerial robotic systems — drones — to facilitate new atmospheric science applications, including observing and better understanding the behavior of severe storms. The three-year grant from from the National Science Foundation, announced by CU today in a news release, is under [...]

MIT and Olin College researchers are working with Scientific Systems on unmanned aerial vehicles for use in fighting fires. Engineering whizzes at Olin College and MIT are working to craft a drone that would aid—as opposed to hinder—fire fighting. Professors from the two schools are working with Scientific Systems in Woburn, Mass., to test the [...]

BOISE — A first-of-its-kind mission just wrapped up in Idaho, drones being used to help firefighters get a handle on the spreading flames. For five days, an unmanned aircraft flew over the Tepee Springs Fire north of McCall. The fire was started by lightning back on August 12th and is now about 95 percent contained. It [...]

Robots with cameras, microphones and sensors searched for victims stranded in flooded homes and on rooftops. They assessed damage and sent back images from places rescuers couldn’t get. It was August 31, 2005, two days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. These robots were a crucial connection between emergency responders and survivors. Ten years [...]